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Three ships carrying the last batch of 1.1 million bags of subsidised maize docked at Mombasa port before the October 26 repeat presidential and flour from the grain were expected to land in the shop shelves in the second week of November.

“The current shortage of supplies results from the fact that huge consignment of maize is stuck at the port waiting to be offloaded,” said Mr Bett.

The maize cargo is equivalent to Kenya’s consumption for 14 days.

Mr Bett said the market is yet to get enough stocks from the ongoing harvest in the North Rift due to rains, underling the importance of the 1.4 million bags of subsidised maize.

“We are not getting enough stocks currently at the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) as we had anticipated as the purchases have been slowed down by rains,” he said.

The NCPB had by Monday purchased 150,000 bags of maize out of 2.4 million bags that it targets to replenish the Strategic Food Reserve almost a month since it opened its silos.